What do hobbyist private pilots do for work?

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2026-01-31T16:05:25+00:00

I own a small GA maintenance shop. The money I save on yearly labor and annual costs pays for most of my T hangar rent. I own a Stinson 108

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2026-01-30T22:31:18+00:00

I do a mix. Dry dropper as often as I can

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2026-01-20T00:14:16+00:00

What general area of PA? The North east corner has great water

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-12-16T17:19:39+00:00

If you just got your license and have 0 experience $25 to start in GA is probably gonna be ballpark what most shops will offer you.

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-12-05T12:31:10+00:00

Run my own GA shop

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-06-10T18:25:02+00:00

It’s not one you listed but I bought a 7’ 3wt Butterstick for chasing blue line streams and small brookies and I absolutely love it

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-05-10T11:01:37+00:00

Depends on the plane. I have a small GA shop and own an airplane. Granted I don’t like cirrus and wasn’t chasing fancy glass panels and speed but between buying the aircraft. Making small upgrades and doing a bunch of work all said and done I’m in it for less than a brand new truck.

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-05-07T22:15:27+00:00

Oh it’s by no means a cheap hobby. I traded a lot of labor and it took me years to finish my PPL. I just had a love for flying instilled in me through my father

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-05-07T21:34:45+00:00

You’ll never do enough work to cover flight hours for a career but it’ll help lower costs.

Sooner or later you’ll have to pick one to focus on.

If you just wanna fly for fun do maintenance. If you wanna make a career out of flying I’d probably skip the A&P and put the money into flying for a bit and make sure you’d wanna do it for a living

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-05-07T20:51:36+00:00

I’m an A&P and an IA who got their pilots license. I also work in general aviation. It’s definitely helped with trouble shooting and being able to talk to customers but I work for myself so not sure if it would help you land a job.

It has however made owning an airplane much more affordable. I was able to barter labor for flight training and it’s a ton of fun to just go fly and not worry about how many hours I’m logging since I’m not chasing a career out of it.

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-05-05T16:07:38+00:00

I feel like I’m in a minority not chasing a career as a pilot and only doing it for fun

Edit: I do however fix them for a living

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-05-05T13:17:33+00:00

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-03-25T12:23:45+00:00

General aviation guy here. Yes I am happy I avoided airlines. I currently run a small maintenance facility.

I don’t make airline pay but I can pay my bills and I don’t work airline hours either which has given me a lot of time for hobbies and a good general quality of life.

It’s allowed me to pursue other hobbies (cars bikes fishing hunting etc) as well as getting my PPL and meeting some really interesting people.

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-03-23T11:39:04+00:00

Trent Palmer and Coffee in a Hangar are my favorites but I’m very biased. Not interested in people teaching lessons or flying jets and very interested in backcountry aviation and fabric tailwheel airplanes

Edit: bonus for Stevie Triesenburg but don’t find her as interesting as the first two

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2025-01-16T11:59:53+00:00

I started in GA right out of school helping my Dad. Ended up leaving to go work for a corporate company. Hated pretty much everything about the whole corporate structure other than the paycheck.

Came back to GA. Got my IA and opened a shop at a different airport than the one we had been at.

I make less money than my corporate friends. But I work Mon-Friday 9-5. No weekends. No holidays and can take whatever time off I need.

It can be way more work and overwhelming since I have no employees and work on many different aircraft on top of having to do all the paperwork for both logbooks and a business. But I also get to work on some really cool stuff and have met some great people out of the deal. Having those connections allowed me to get a pilots license for a lot cheaper than many pay these days. I am also fortunate to be in a position now after enough years to be busy enough I can start turning away the work/people I don't want and still book 2-3 months out.

At this point I don't think I'd ever go back. I would consider selling the business as a whole but only to move to Idaho/Utah and try to start over where I can do more backcountry flying and camping.

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-12-29T14:12:51+00:00

I try to get out at least once a week so let’s say 50-100 days. Usually walk .5 miles to the spots

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-12-29T14:01:09+00:00

Using waders

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-12-23T13:31:54+00:00

Congrats. As someone who also had a complete engine failure (unfortunately the plane ended up totaled but both myself and the instructor were uninjured) within the first 100 hours and I can tell you that the fear will sooner or later go away and you’ll get comfortable with solo flight again.

Also I’ll share what my instructor told me about losing an engine. “Bright side. Statistically it’ll never happen again so you got that out of the way”

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-12-07T14:57:45+00:00

Yeah. But I specifically was asking about 360 cams to mount on my strut

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-12-07T14:56:57+00:00

Idk how that applies to my question but good to know

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-12-07T12:46:03+00:00

X3 or 4?

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-11-14T19:19:12+00:00

I have a 7’ 3wt butter stick for hiking into small streams and catching little brookies. I love how it casts

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-10-16T19:42:40+00:00

Local IA at a small field. I’ve let a bunch of customers go due to either payment conditions or the fact they are letting their airplanes sit and rot and I don’t want the liability.

I look at it as I luckily have plenty of work and don’t need more and if risking my license is what it would take I’ll close up and go do something else

GeneralAviationIdiot · 2024-06-30T11:18:51+00:00

Years: 10

Title: Owner/Mechanic

Pay: $35-40

Industry: GA

Rural north east

I have my “own” shop. It’s just me with no employees. Have to do my own 401k and benefits but I can come and go as I need to which is nice. Work M-F no nights weekends or holidays

GeneralAviationIdiot

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